The 1986 Intercontinental Cup was the 25th edition of the Intercontinental Cup, an annual association football match played between the winners of the European Cup (now called the Champions League) and the Copa Libertadores. The match would be played on 14 December 1986 at the National Stadium in Tokyo, Japan, between River Plate of Argentina and Steaua București of Romania had both qualified for the first time as the champions of their corresponding tournament.
Watched by a crowd of 62,000, Steaua București scored a goal in the 16th minute when a River Plate player gave the ball to Miodrag Belodedici, however this was wrongfully ruled as offside by assistant refereeShizuo Takada, and the goal didn't count. River Plate struck back in the 28th minute when Norberto "Beto" Alonso took a fast free kick after Juan Gilberto Funes was fouled by Adrian Bumbescu, who would stay arguing with the referee. This surprised the Romanian defence, and Antonio Alzamendi received Alonso's pass and shot into the left post of the keeper, but then scored with a header when the rebounce came. Steaua București captain Tudorel Stoica was had chance in the 52th minute where he was through on goal against River Plate's keeper, but would fail to score. The team couldn't equalize in the second half, giving River Plate its first and only Intercontinental Cup.
River Plate Héctor Veira would later reflect on the match in an interview stating that it was very tactical —as he expected— and that it required great concentration. On the other side, manager Anghel Iordănescu would reflect on the only goal of the match, stating that they "lost concentration for second", which would cost them the match. Both Belodedici and captain Stoica would state in interviews that the goal scored by Belodedici in the 16th minute counted, and that assistant referee Takada would wrongfully disallow it.
Background
The 1986 Intercontinental Cup was 25th edition of the Intercontinental Cup, a yearly association football match contested between the champions of the European Cup (now known the Champions League) and the Copa Libertadores.[1] The first edition of the match was in 1960, which was won Spanish club Real Madrid after beating Uruguayan club Peñarol 5–1 on aggregate.[2] By the late 1970s, the yearly matches were struggling,[3] many European champions had withdrawn from the competition and left them to the runners-up due to various matches ending in serious fights.[1] In 1980, British company West Nally had discussions Japanese advertising company Dentsu and Japanese car company Toyota to support the InterSoccer4 program. Toyota proposed to make an event for them, after learning about the Intercontinental Cup they decided to remake it to the Toyota Cup.[4] The first match under Toyota's name would be the 1980 Intercontinental Cup, won by Peñarol's rival Club Nacional de Football.[5]
Steaua București qualified for the tournament also for the time as the 1985–86 European Cup winners (now known as the Champions League),[1] after beating Spanish club Barcelona 2–0 in a penalty shoot-out when regular time had in a goal-less draw. Becoming the first and only Eastern European club to do so.[12] It was the first edition of the European Cup after the Heysel Stadium disaster where 39 people died, and English clubs were banned indefinitely from European competition.[13][14] Like River Plate, Steaua București were also the reigning league champions, winning the 1985–86 Divizia A with 57 points.[15] Their last match before the tournament was played at home against Petrolul Ploiești in the 1986–87 season on 5 December, winning 3–0.[16]
Emerich Jenei, Steaua București's manager who had won the European Cup with the team, was appointed to be the manager of the Romanian national team, and thus he left the club. Anghel Iordănescu, who was a used substitute in the European Cup final, would be selected as the replacement to Jenei.[20]
Before the match, Steaua București player László Bölöni and goalkeeper Helmut Duckadam were injured and could not play in the match, but they still travelled to Japan.[21][22][23] On the other hand, River Plate player Norberto "Beto" Alonso was not in a good physical condition and his place in the starting eleven was doubted.[19] The only change that Steaua București made (apart from Bölöni and Duckadam) compared to the European Cup final was Mihail Majearu, who would start as substitute.[22] The team would use a special light blue kit for the match, reminiscent of the club's early history.[24] All of the Steaua București's players in the starting eleven would represent the Romanian national team in their career.[20] River Plate had three players in the starting eleven that were 1986 FIFA World Cup champions with Argentina: Goalkeeper Nery Pumpido, Oscar Ruggeri and Héctor Enrique.[25] Journalists believed before the match that River Plate were the favourites to win the tournament.[26][27]
On 24 August 1986, it was revealed that River Plate's striker Ramón Centurión had failed a drug test after a league game against Temperley. After it was determined they found methamphetamine in his system, he was handed a one-year competitive ban, thus not being eligible for the match.[28]
River Plate manager Héctor Veira had a tape of Steaua București's final against Barcelona and was trying to find weaknesses in the team. He found that after a free kick Steaua București's turned their backs on the ball, after finding this out he gave a talk to the players about this.[29]
Match details
Summary
The match would be played on 14 December 1986,[30] kicking off at 11 am local time (2 am UTC)[31] with an attendance of 62,000.[32] It was televised in around 60 countries worldwide.[33] In Romania, the match was not broadcast live due to it being played at 4 am in EET, and at that time television broadcasts were only allowed until 10 pm. However the match was broadcast a day later.[31] The match made a revenue of $600,000 US dollars[19] (equivelant to $1,774,390.51 as of December 2025),[34] from the 62,000 people that attended the match.[19]
In the first ten minutes, River Plate received three free kicks near the penalty area,[33] one of them was in the 5th minute, where Alonso took a fast free kick to Roque Alfaro who took a shot that was saved by the keeper.[29] In the 16th minute, a River Plate player would give the ball to Steaua București player Miodrag Belodedici who would score a goal that would be wrongfully ruled out by Takado as offside.[35][22][36] This is because according to the Laws of the Game, if an opposing player deliberately plays the ball to a player in an offside position, it isn't an offside offence.[37]
The only goal of the match occurred in the 28th minute, when Alonso took a fast free kick after Juan Gilberto Funes was fouled from 22 meters out by Adrian Bumbescu, who would stay arguing with Bazán. This action surprised the defence of Steaua București. Antonio Alzamendi received Alonso's pass and took a shot that hit the left post of the keeper, but then scored the goal in the rebounce by heading it into the net.[19][35][29][31] In a match report, sports journalist Natalio Gorin would criticise how Alonso played due to physical condition, but still praised his "mental velocity" writing that it's why River Plate scored the winning goal.[19]
Steaua București controlled the majority of the match, but according to author Daniel Williamson their chances were wasted due to long range shots and River Plate's "heroic" defence.[38] River Plate also time-wasted in various parts of the second half.[19] Gorin described Steaua București's style of play as creative and bold, giving Marius Lăcătuș and Gabi Balint as an example for bold players. But also criticised their defence and their organization, writing that they were exposing themselves by not closing down spaces and that they couldn't agree amongst themselves.[21][19] While River Plate's playing syle was described by author Miguel Angel Bertolotto as "offensive counterattacking", a playing style that he thought was present in multiple of Viera's teams.[39]
Around the middle of the second half, Alfaro passed the ball to Alzamedi who broke through to the rival's penalty area, and would cross it back to Alfaro who would shoot with his right foot, but it was saved by the keeper.[40] Steaua București captain Tudorel Stoica would be through on goal against Pumpido in the 52th minute, but could not score.[33] In the 60th minute, Steaua București made its only substitution, replacing Ilie Bărbulescu for Majearu. 8 minutes later, River Plate would do the same, replacing Alfaro for Daniel Sperandío[es].[32] In the last minutes of the game, Veira tried forcing the end of the game by making a small pitch invasion along with his players.[19]
Cover of 50th special edition by El Gráfico. Shown on the left is River Plate captain Américo Gallego lifting the Intercontinental Cup trophy. While on the right is Juan Gilberto Funes lifting the Toyota Cup trophy.
River Plate would become the first Argentine team to win a treble after the win,[24] and would also be the fifth Argentine team to win the Intercontinental Cup at that time.[1]
To celebrate the cup, the River Plate team made a victory lap after the end of the match, and lifted the Intercontinental Cup trophy and the Toyota trophy. Around 60 photographers showed up to take pictures of the players, but they turned continued doing the lap backwards.[29] Alzamedi was named Most Valuable Player of the Match,[41] meaning that as a prize he would win a free Toyota Carina,[38] but he would instead reject it and asked for a cheque that would be shared with the kit men and medics.[29] After the tournament, Alonso would announce his retirement at the age of 34, making the Intercontinental Cup his last match as footballer.[29][31] River Plate players each received $38,177 US dollars[42] (equivalent to $112,901.51 as of December 2025)[19] as a bonus for winning the cup, while players of their Romanian counterpart instead received $4,090 US dollars[42] (equivalent to $12,095.43 as of December 2025)[19] each.[42]
In a 2015 interview, Veira would reflect on the final, stating that the game was very tactical — as he expected— and that it required great concentration. He elaborates further and states that he only suffered when Steaua București started to cross the ball.[43] Alonso stated in an interview with El Gráfico after the match that Steaua București threw them off balance in the middle of the pitch and were changing through the wings very quickly, but he felt that they stayed back when it came to finishing.[44] On the opposing side, manager Iordănescu would reflect on the goal by Alzamedi in a post-match interview, stating that they "lost concentration for second", which would cost them the match. Iordănescu also stated before this that if Bölöni had played on the match, it would've finished differently.[33] Belodedici would later criticise Takada's decision in an interview in 2011, theorizing that Takada didn't see that the ball was passed to him by a River Plate player due to the commotion in the penalty area.[45] Furthermore, Stoica would later state in a 2021 interview with ProSport that if Video assistant referees existed in that time, they've would've won the cup.[46][47] Belodedici would state in the interview they let victory slip through their fingers.[45]
River Plate were scheduled to play in 12 to 14 March 1987 a friendly tournament at the now-demolished Miami Orange Bowl called the "Miami Cup", where president Hugo Santilli[es] promised to show the Intercontinental Cup trophy on display if River Plate had won it,[48] however River Plate pulled out of the tournament as they had a league game on the 14th and the Argentine national team had a game against Italy on the 19th. They would be later replaced by Millonarios from Colombia.[49] The team would finish the 1986-87 league season in 10th place,[11] and would be eliminated in the second round of the 1987 Copa Libertadores finishing second behind Peñarol—who would be the champions of the tournament— in Group 2.[50] The club would also dispute the 1986 Copa Interamericana against Liga Deportiva Alajuelense from Costa Rica, which they would win 3–0 on aggregate.[51]
In 1987, Veira —who was then manager of San Lorenzo— would be accused of raping a 13-year-old boy, he would be found guilty in the first instance of the crime of attempted rape and promoting the corruption of a minor in 1988 and was sentenced to four years in prison. The Criminal Court overturned the conviction and found Veira not guilty, giving him the benefit of the doubt, but the Supreme Court found this decision to be arbitrary and ordered a new sentence to be issued. In 1991, Veira was found guilty of rape and was sentenced to six years in prison starting in October of that year. However, in 1992, the Supreme Court intervened and found Veira guilty of attempted rape, and reduced his sentence to three years. He was let go on probation in September of that year, as he had served more than a third of his sentence.[52][53]
↑Poupart, Alain (3 December 1986). "Stylish trim: Miami Cup field cut to four". The Miami News. p.23 – via Newspapers.com. River Plate is favoured to win the world club championship next week in Tokyo.
Williamson, Daniel (18 July 2022). When Two Worlds Collide. Pitch Publishing. ISBN978-1-80150-145-3.
Bertolotto, Miguel Angel (2000). River, el campeón del siglo (in Spanish). Buenos Aires: Océano Argentina Temas Grupo Editorial. ISBN978-987-9164-50-1.
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